Dozens of Iraq's Kurdish fighters are set to fly to Turkey on Tuesday and cross into the Syrian border town of Kobane to help fight Islamic State militants. (AP)
IRBIL, Iraq — Thousands of cheering, flag-waving people gave a noisy send-off to a group of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga troops who left Tuesday for Turkey — the first step on their way to help their Syrian brethren fight Islamic extremists in the embattled border town of Kobani.
The unprecedented mission by the 150 fighters to help fellow Kurds in their battle with the Islamic State group came after Ankara agreed to allow the peshmerga cross into Syria via Turkey — although the Turkish prime minister reiterated that his country would not be sending any ground forces of its own to Kobani.
A U.S. State Department official confirmed that peshmerga fighters are on their way to Kobani but did not know when they were expected to arrive. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be identified in discussing the issue.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the BBC that sending the peshmerga was “the only way to help Kobani, since other countries don’t want to use ground troops.”
The Islamic State group launched its offensive on Kobani and nearby Syrian villages in mid-September, killing more than 800 people, according to activists. The Sunni extremists captured dozens of Kurdish villages around Kobani and control parts of the town. More than 200,000 people have fled across the border into Turkey.
The U.S. is leading a coalition that has carried out dozens of airstrikes targeting the militants in and around Kobani.
The deployment of the 150 peshmerga fighters, who were authorized by the Iraqi Kurdish government to go to Kobani, underscores the sensitive political tensions in the region.
Turkey’s government views the Syrian Kurds defending Kobani as loyal to what Ankara regards as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. That group has waged a 30-year insurgency in Turkey and is designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and NATO.
Under pressure to take greater action against the IS militants — from the West as well as from Kurds inside Turkey and Syria — the Turkish government agreed to let the fighters cross through its territory. But it only is allowing the peshmerga forces from Iraq, with whom it has a good relationship, and not those from the PKK.
Peshmerga spokesman Halgurd Hekmat said the fighters were flying Tuesday to Turkey and from there would cross into Syria. He gave no further details.
A convoy of Toyota land cruisers and trucks with cannons and machine guns headed toward the Iraqi Kurdish area of Dohuk on the way to Turkey.
Peshmerga soldiers carrying Kurdish flags were atop some of the vehicles. The troops made the victory sign for the cameras. An ambulance and government vehicles blaring their sirens accompanied the convoy.
Scores of people waited by the side of the road in villages for the troops to pass. In the city of Dohuk, thousands of children and elderly people were on hand. Many held colorful Kurdish flags and large photos of Kurdish regional President Massoud Barzani as they shouted support.
The Kurds of Syria and Iraq have become a major focus in the war against the Islamic State group, with Kurdish populations in both countries under significant threat by the militants’ lightning advance as they seek to establish an Islamic caliphate in the region.
The Kurdish parliament voted overwhelmingly to send fighters to Kobani, underscoring the growing cooperation among the Kurds in Iraq and Syria. The action marked the first mission for the peshmerga outside Iraq.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said U.S. officials “certainly encourage” the deployment of Iraqi peshmerga forces to Kobani.
It will provide much-needed support for the Syrian Kurds, although it is not clear whether Turkey will allow the peshmerga fighters to carry enough weaponry to make an impact.
The Obama administration has worked with Turkey and the semi-autonomous Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq “on a sustainable way forward to support forces in Kobani and over the long term to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL,” Psaki said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.
“Obviously, we’ve advocated and been discussing the importance of allowing the peshmerga across the border and the facilitation of that,” Psaki said. “We believe that will happen soon, or perhaps it’s already happening.”
Idriss Nassan, a Kurdish official from Kobani, told The Associated Press that they had no confirmation that peshmerga fighters were to arrive Tuesday. “We have no information other than what we are reading on social media or hearing on the news,” Nassan said by telephone from Turkey.
He added that the peshmerga command might have direct contact with the Syrian Kurdish force known as the Peoples’ Protection Units, or YPG, and for that reason Kurdish politicians in Syria are not aware of the movement.
The U.S. Central Command said U.S. military forces carried out four airstrikes near Kobani in the past 24 hours, destroying four IS fighting positions and a small IS unit.
An AP reporter on the Turkish side of the border facing Kobani saw several airstrikes by the coalition. Occasional shooting could be heard from the town.
In Berlin, Syria’s neighbors urged European countries at a conference of foreign ministers and representatives from 40 nations to open their doors to more refugees, and for immediate financial and technological help as their infrastructures buckle under the massive influx of civilians fleeing the conflict.
Turkey has agreed to train and equip moderate Syrian rebel forces that have for more than three years sought to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.
More than 3 million people have fled Syria because of the conflict, mostly to neighboring countries. Another 6 million are displaced within Syria.
The conflict began with largely peaceful protests in March 2011 calling for reform. It eventually spiraled into a civil war as people took up arms following a brutal military crackdown on the protest movement.
Islamic extremists including foreign fighters have joined the war, playing an increasingly prominent role in the conflict. Thousands have died in battles between opposing rebel groups since the beginning of the year.
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Karam reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Elena Becatoros in Mursitpinar, Turkey, Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Lebanon, Lara Jakes in Washington and David Rising in Berlin, Germany, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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